MBTF’s fifth State of the City Address hailed as best
SOME 15,000 in two batches watched Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez deliver her State of the City Address (SOCA) before the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) at CSI Stadia on March 20.
More than 8,000 people packed the Stadia in the morning to personally hear the mayor deliver her fifth SOCA, and as many again made a beehive to the place in the afternoon of that day to watch the video clip of that event.
The mayor’s SOCA was also featured livestreaming on Facebook and covered live by USATV’s Kabaleyan Channel.
“I did not expect the big crowd that came in full force to see and hear my SOCA,” Fernandez confessed the following day at the KBP Forum at the Philippine Information Agency office at the People’s Astrodome.
She said her SOCA, which was considered by many Dagupeños as the best ever in five years (and also the most fiery) as it detailed her accomplishments. (A one-page back-to-back handout listed all the infrastructure projects approved and endorsed by the local development council for 2019).
“All the 31 barangays were treated equally. Each had a share of development projects,” she told the KBP Forum.
Among the more significant accomplishments was the renovation of the Dagupan People’s Astrodome whose costs were sourced from the P178 surplus the city government, the biggest surplus it registered in five years.
More than 200 projects endorsed by the local development council will be served by the surplus as well.
“This big surplus was not realized from appropriations of projects we did not implement. It was realized as a result of judicious spending for all the projects that were implemented,” she said.
She reminded newsmen that when she started out as city mayor in 2013, the city had a P37 -million deficit and Decorp had served notice of disconnection at the city hall and many public schools due to the city government’s unpaid arrears in its electric bills.
She said her successful negotiation with Decorp saved the city hall and the schools from plunging into darkness. At the same time, she introduced reforms that allowed contractors and emergency workers to be paid.
“We tightened our watch over the market collectors and that worked,” the mayor said and that included having to be at the market by 4:00 a.m. herself to monitor collection activities.
Other projects to be undertaken by the city include the elevation of the Malimgas Public Market, development of the Inarangan Lake in Barangay Malued to become another tourist destination, revival of the PNR Site, tourism development in Barangay Pugaro, continuation of the Tondaliugan Development Program and the Waste 2 Worth project. (Leonardo Micua)
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